Microsoft today announced plans to release significant updates to its Dynamics CRM solution later this month. The company is also updating its Dynamics AX and Dynamics GP products.

"Our December product releases deliver significant value to customers through simple-to-use and easy-to-implement business solutions," said Kirill Tatarinov, president of Microsoft Business Solutions, in a statement. "This wave of new Microsoft Dynamics' capabilities, together with Microsoft's innovative social, mobile, collaboration, productivity, and analytics resources, inspires people to do their best work and transform their businesses."

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM business has experienced double-digit growth for the past eight years, with its revenue growing 30 percent last quarter year over year. The CRM December 2012 service update will be available beginning in mid-December, with a global rollout that will last into January. The new service update re-imagines the way sales, customer service, and marketing professionals work with CRM. Moving away from the traditional data-centric approach, this service update adds new experiences that visually guide users through their business processes. In addition, the new service update brings customers deeper connection to Microsoft's Yammer and Skype services, embedded Bing Maps, compatibility with the new Microsoft Office, and cross-browser support, enabling new levels of communications and collaboration for customers.

Customers such as Colliers International see the value of the usability features of the new service update and the simplicity of use, particularly the speed and ease of getting their people up and running on the new system.

"We are excited to take advantage of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM service update because it is so simple to use that all of our people will be able to embrace it," said Veresh Sita, chief information officer at Colliers, in a statement. "This new user experience is no longer a barrier but an enabler, allowing us to reap immediate benefits."

The most recent updates to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 are globally available now and allow for multiple languages and legislations to be run from within a single instance. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 also introduces breakthrough business intelligence capabilities based on Microsoft SQL Server. Important information to all parts of a business is provided quickly, intuitively, and in the context of what the individual user is doing.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013, expected to be available December 19, introduces significant new features and capabilities designed to help small and midsized businesses (SMBs) grow. This release introduces a new Web client, more than 125 feature enhancements, streamlined management, and rich interoperability with other Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft Office 365.

With the new release, customers can access Microsoft Dynamics GP through a rich client and a new Web client so they can get to the information they need when they need it and on the device of their choice. Improved hostability features include a new hosting management console for cloud deployments to streamline deploying and managing Microsoft Dynamics GP in the cloud. Faster, lower-risk deployment is available with new RapidStart tools that can reduce the time and effort required to configure Microsoft Dynamics GP.